The Girl with Jade Eyes
by JeanG
Summary: A ride, a chitchat with a patient and intelligent horse... A boy remembers the beginning of his love affair with a strange, dicey girl...


The Girl with Jade Eyes

This story is for Reb…

The boy kept the horse at pace while they were travelling the narrow mountain path. The stinging air of the late winter entered his throat with every breath. he'd been riding for three hours at least and was beginning to tire. The dark horse under him grumbled impatiently. The boy smiled inwardly. Saavedra's Mate was a magnificent animal but he loved to gallop and such slow-paced trips made him nervous. Yet the horse was still the boy's favourite and he couldn't have chosen a different mount. Because he shared with Saavy a special feeling. Nobody else would ever have condescended to bear his long and pointless rumblings alone. Saavy was his confidant.

"Are you tired, Saavy?" the boy asked.

The horse ignored him, of course, keeping his air of aloofness.

"Ok. To return we'll go down to the main road and then you will run... You hungry, Saavy? Do you want daddy to give you a cookie?"

The horse didn't change step and the boy realized that the ill mood wasn't going away soon. _What am I thinking... Horses _can't _be in an ill mood... _The boy determined to ignore him for a while. He raised his head, welcoming the rays of sun filtering through the trees on that late afternoon on his face. _I should ask somebody what sort of trees are these. I've been living here for two years and still don't know it. _Suddenly the boy got aware of a rift opening in his stomach. He had sandwiches with him and something else, probably, lovingly put in his backpack by his ladies. They seemed delighted of his the premises. Surely at the moment they were gulping some hypercaloric junk, weeping copiously at the misfortunes of Leonardo Di Caprio on the Titanic. Or something like that. That was a secret he was cut off from. _Beloved-sister-emancipated-woman-of-today _and _my-love-though-as-nails_ cried their eyes out for stories so sugary that they brought his glycaemia to dangerous levels.

"But they are tough gals, Saavy. How can you understand?"

The horse neighed irritated. The boy drew reins, making him stop.

"Look, you have no business getting angry. I was not badmouthing mommy."  
The horse shook his black mane. The boy reached out to fondle his muzzle.

"I know, I know. Mommy is good and beautiful and you always take her part. Should I be jealous, Saavy?" _I'm ready for the nuthouse, _thought the boy. _I'm a raving lunatic. But... it feels so well here... _He was very far from the place of his birth, twenty years before, also he was far from the place he had grown in. Still he felt at home. For the first time in his life he really felt at home.

"Do you understand me when I talk to you in Japanese, Saavy? Or do you speak only an equine-American pidgin? Do you speak Greek? Tell me, do you speak Greek? What an illiterate horse you are..." It had taken him just a couple of months to learn it. It all depends on method, his teacher had explained him. She smacked his face anytime he tried to speak Japanese. For a moment the boy ceased smiling. Those he'd spent in Greece weren't happy years. They had left deep marks on him, making him the person he'd become. He couldn't envision his existence having another course. Even now that his past life looked just a bad memory. he had never hoped of leading a common existence. Perhaps he'd never even wished such a thing. He was so proud then. So self-assured. Now he only wanted to be left alone. _You think I had it coming, Saavy? Or not? Or am I a bad character? _The horse seemed perceptive of his sudden nervousness. The boy climbed off the saddle.

"Lets' have a break..." he said, as if he really needed to justify himself with him. Then he opened his knapsack, taking a sandwich and a can. The horse protested again.

"Ok" the boy replied, finding a couple of carrots. "I knew that she wouldn't let you down." The boy brought a carrot to the mouth of the horse. Saavedra's Mate gobbled it greedily. "She's been nice, wasn't she?" The boy caressed the dark shiny hairs. "She's always nice. Always was. Don't mind her when she pretends to be angry. It's a sham, you know?"

The horse neighed, as if to call him right.

On that unforgettable evening, Seiya wasn't expecting his life to change forever. In truth, his intentions were completely innocent. To bring Marin a good rabbit to roast, to gain her forgiveness. "I'll hang you by the thumbs" had been the last subtle threat conceived by the morbid mind of his teacher. Seiya couldn't understand how could she be so insufferable. She broke him with hour-long training session. And he saw as legitimate to allow himself a brief nap at least during the theoretical lectures. Marin didn't agree with that. Seiya had welcomed that free quarter of an hour joyfully. His leisure time was minimal. So he had begun hunting for rabbits. That cheeky one had appeared as if uncaring, with its curious snout and sparkling eyes while he was eating bread with pear. Seiya's mind had taken to plan a simple, synthetic thought. Rabbit means food. Roast with herbs, enticing smell, tender meat... A dramatic change from the revolting mess the pupils received. The fact that Marin shared her better rations with him was only a minimal relief to him. Thus he had charged the tasty game, sure that it would be his. Yet the rabbit thought otherwise. And, Seiya held no doubts, it had started making a fool of him dashing away like the wind. Seiya had thrown some insults at it with all the vigour of his ten years and, preoccupied with the chase and wholly taken by his fruitless hunt, didn't realize he'd arrived at the gynaecium. The rabbit had scuttled beyond the palisade inside which the girls trained. Coward,_ he had thought, seeing the slick rodent cower on the lap of a cute girlie. Seiya had never seen a female trainee so closely. They were forbidden all outside contacts, excepting their teachers. Of course there were transgressors, but they did it at their own risk. Seiya had leaned against a tree to enjoy the picture. The girl was barefaced and was stroking the rabbit like it was a plush pet. _Look, look. I bet she's used to stay here and brawl with her mates. Then, when nobody's watching she turns into a loving kitten.

The girl had raised her eyes at him, hearing his giggles. He had come out with a stale joke about girls aspiring to become Saints who then melt like sugar lumps faced with a rabbit, The girl's face had changed expression and only then Seiya had watched her eyes. Are those real?_ he had wondered, certain that nature couldn't harbour such a hue of green. The colour of a leaf wet with morning dew, with emerald and golden particles gracing her gaze with something... something special._

The girl seemed positively peeved as she remembered him the rules he had violated when he grossed the gynaecium limits. But he hadn't been much scared even when she'd tried to attack him. She's wounded.

Grimacing, she was holding a bleeding wrist. Seiya had gone beside her and she'd tried to drive him away. He didn't let himself be impressed. He had taken her wrist and bandaged it ripping a shred of his own shirt off. The girl had watched him act with a somewhat lost expression. How cute... _had thought Seiya, and it was a completely odd thought. He'd always thought of girls like they were bizarre animals. Marin was a tiger, little princess Saori Kido a hyena cub, his eternal friend Miho a lapdog and his sister a warm, comforting mother goose. Others, he didn't know. Yet there he was unable to find an animal suitable for comparison with the young girl he was facing. The delicate features, the dark and wild hair and those unearthly eyes..._

"Drop the tough girl act, ok? It's clear to see that you're a kind, good-hearted girl..."

For a moment he'd wondered how could such a phrase occur to him. He had sought shelter watching the rabbit, still near by, knowing that it was now safe. Sure, Seiya had lost his hunger.

Damn it... I'm late... Marin will skin me alive... _Sighing he'd greeted the cute girl with the advice to change the makeshift bandage. Then he had run off and only halfway he'd stopped, realizing that he didn't even know her name. _Oh, well, I'll be back there tomorrow... just in case... To see how she's doing... I'm going there tomorrow to ask...

He'd resumed his course and run the remainder of his path laughing like a fool.

American bugs... the boy thought briefly, then he left himself drop on the almost withered grass. He knew that he should have been very careful not to bring unpleasant guests along, lest he would have witnessed a hysterical fit of his sister. Not to mention mystical-ecological trips, the sort that his darling brought out at the most unexpected moment, worrying about the well-being of the lowliest life forms.

"You don't know it, Saavy..." said the boy to the horse, left free to search around for an edible patch of fresh grass. "But mommy has a soft heart and I think she's happy with not hiding it anymore."

The boy tore his sandwich out of the envelope and swallowed it with relish. _Let's not forget to collect the rubbish..._

Seiya was aching to the bone but on that day even Marin didn't look to have come off easily. This means that I'm becoming strong and that soon I'll have a Cloth for myself...

"Seiya..." Marin had called him to attention but he hadn't moved. He'd kept lying by her side, over the rocky ground, covered with dirt and sweat and with torn clothes. That day's session had been fairly violent and he'd fended off Marin's attacks giving all he had. Perhaps now his teacher would finally recognize that it was high time to declare his training days over.

"Seiya..." the woman had insisted. "Seiya, you've been seen again loitering around the gynaecium. Stop doing that, else you'll be in trouble. I left things pass until today. I thought it was a sort of a child's game. But you're almost a man now and you have to focus on obtaining a Cloth... And Saints don't break the law of the Sanctuary..."

Good words, of course. Words of wisdom. But he didn't mind rules. For three years no day had passed without him returning to the place he'd nicknamed 'the rabbit zone'. In vain. 'Jade Eyes' had not returned. He'd spied on the girls looking for a telltale sign. The mask they were wearing didn't make his task lighter, but he'd never lost his zest. She'll be back sooner or later. And then I'll ask her her name...

"Right, Marin" he'd replied, bent on doing things his way as usual. He'd raised up followed by his teacher.

"You know, you're becoming good... A few more years and you'll be close to my skill..." Marin had declared .

A few more years... A gnawing sense of frustration had struck him; he had started to feel the desire to return home. Seika was in Tokyo and surely she was very worried about him...

Clamouring voices had brought him back to earth. He would have known them everywhere. The witch and her cohorts of fawning toadies. The leaders of the Sanctuary. Ophiucus Shaina. She and her men had stopped a few yards from Marin and him and had stopped babbling in their grating way.

"Seiya... don't pick up fights..." Marin had whispered and he would have gladly disobeyed her, hadn't he been so spent. This because Shaina was able to draw out the worst in him.

The girl had watched him intently for some seconds. Her rancour filtered even from beneath the inexpressive mask that covered her face completely. A harpy with a wild green mane and nails painted in black, sharpened like claws. Why don't you vanish from my life? _Seiya had thought as the female lifted a finger and run it across her throat in an unmistakeable menacing gesture. Then she and her cronies had resumed their walking._

"I hate that woman" he had said with great intention, as his loathing fought with his budding sexual instincts.

The boy hid his leftovers inside the backpack. _No one will spoil this paradise. _Then he opened a can of shaddock juice, while Saavedra's Mate approached him coyly. The boy knew his vices well. The horse brought his nuzzle close to his face, then stuck out the tongue to give him a lick on a cheek.

"Hey, you're not a dog!"  
Saavedra's mate protested neighing throatily: the young man smirked and dropped a bit of juice in his palm.

"Here you go" he said placing it at the horse's mouth. The animal licked it away gladly. "Don't tell anyone. She'll kill me should she find out. It does you no good, you know."

The soulful eyes of the horse were telling him that he wanted more. The boy gave him more and again Saavedra's Mate swept everything away with a sweep of the tongue.

"Have I ever told you about the first time I drank grape-fruit, Saavy?" The horse shook his head, then left to brows on some more quietly. The boy sat down again. "You're right. It's not interesting. But you could make it known more politely."

I'm going home, _Seiya was thinking as sleep fought to creep into his eyes. The unending flight is almost over. In the end everything had gone well. More or less. he was now an Athena's Saint. Pegasus Cloth belonged to him. The Priest had finally invested him. He'd vanquished his competition more swiftly than he'd expected. Now the bronze box containing the magical armour was quietly resting in the hold of the airplane that was flying him back to Tokyo. Indeed, everything had gone splendidly. Almost. Because the humiliation he'd endured from his foe Cassios had not passed unnoticed by his comrades, who the night before had tried to take his life. Under Shaina's guidance, of course. Cassios' teacher, not to mention the woman who seemed always to be holding a grudge against him. The feeling was heartily returned. _She started first, _Seiya grumbled while half the passengers were napping and the other half were watching the screen showing 'Stuart Little': _She begun first, but now I think I've given her a lesson... _It's hadn't been his idea, to face her. He disliked fighting against women. It embarrassed him, and he was inclined to hold up even when it was Marin. But this time he couldn't back away. He'd cleared her lackeys off with a single blow. The Cloth had really given him power. And then... he didn't do it on purpose, really he only wanted her to stop harassing him. But the mask... the mask she wore had broken in two and fell. _Who would have said that? She's a beauty to die for... _Seiya had started laughing. Shaina the witch. Deep grey eyes and feature like those of a cover girl. _Well. She's beautiful. So what? _She had challenged him anew, promising him that an the next occasion they both would have been wearing their own Cloths, so as to be on the same level. _Yeah, right. How can I trash her now that I've seen her face? That's a face to kiss, not to pound with punches...

Seiya had gulped what was left of his fruit juice. He'd just found out that such a bitter taste could be extremely pleasant. I'm going home. To Seika. _He was going to see his sister soon, very soon. This thought mad him excited. _Home...

A stewardess' voice had announced to the passengers that in twenty minutes they would be landing at Narita airport. Finally... _Seiya had thought. _Finally...

He had left behind just two big regrets. He'd never seen Marin face behind the mask. More, he never could be joined again with the green-eyed girl. She had vanished in the air. For five years he had tried unsuccessfully to trace her. Where have you gone, Jade Eyes? Weren't we really fated to meet again? _Seiya fastened his seat belt. Whatever the case, it was time to look ahead._

"Giddap, Saavy!" cried the boy, exhorting the horse to ride at full.

He felt his muscles tense, on edge. This was his nature. He'd held it at bay for the all day but now he knew that he had to leave him free rein. Saavedra's mate was going to take him home. He knew the way, and was aware that only a mile and a half divided him from an abundant feast of first-rate forage and from a reinvigorating brush. At home... _And for me ... a relaxing massage, a steaming bath and a savoury dinner... Home..._

"Saavy!" the young man drew reins. "Calm you, Saavy... We could kill ourselves "

The horse obeyed to his commands. He was an extremely clever and wonderfully trained animal, even though the boy would never have used him to give lessons to beginners. Saavedra's Mate could sense the nervousness in who was riding it, and reacted consequently. His ideal was to be mounted by peculiarly skilled horsemen. It was then that he gave his best. he preferred equal partners.

The ranch appeared from behind a sharp turn. The busy day of work was almost done and the workers were all leaving. The master's home. A restored old ranch. The private area at the 'Flying Horse'. The toil and grind of work was kept out of those walls. Because that was _home_. Home...

At the moment all worries seemed very far from him. Seika's disappearance, Little Miss Iceberg Saori Kido's absurd request to see him fight in some weird tournament like a circus beast... The Cloth was still by the 'Lady'. She could hold it. If that was her plan he wasn't going to be part of it. Yet Marin had told him much more. The Cloths existed to protect the Goddess Athena and all she stood for. The Goddess Athena... Who could ever swallow it?

Seiya inhaled the sea air. It have been a wonderful day in a hot summer. A window open on the docks, sails in the distance... That loft was from then on to be his home. After a thorough cleaning it had taken a really neat appearance. Miho had been so kind to find him that place and to help him make it tidy. They had bought a few pretty trinkets on the second-hand market, like the splendid electric blue armchair now facing imposingly the minuscule TV set. Miho... She was everything he'd found in Tokyo to still link him with his past. His best friend. The girl he enjoyed teasing as a child. Together they managed to forget that they were orphans. A lot of time had passed. Miho was really pretty, with dark pigtails and a couple of nails between her lips, as with a hammer she was hanging on the wall a poster she'd given him as a gift. Miho, who'd told him that his sister would certainly had seen him, had he fought for Saori Kido.

I must get a job. I don't want to be on the payroll of Her Royal Highness Look-Me-Not-Lest-Ye-Tarnish-Me.

"What do you think of it?" Miho had asked. Young Marlon Brando on a bike with a leather jacket and his tough man scowl looked at him from the wall.

"Nice..." Seiya had commented. You think you're a big shot, don't you?

Miho had set on the floor and he'd joined her with a large sack of chips and a pair of coke cans.

"You've been very kind, Miho. I'd like to take you out some of these evenings to pay my debt..."

She had watched him, suspicious. "Just to pay your debts?"

Seiya had opened the can. "Let's just say that I'd like to take you out." So pretty... A good start for my new life...

"Are you sure that your girlfriend won't mind?"

Seiya had smiled. That simple question belied many more things. Something like I like you. But I want to know if you have someone in Greece. If you don't I'll take this invitation as a kind of declaration and will consider you free... _Now the right answer was necessary._

"I don't know. Let me ask her. Will you come out with me?" Me, the genius...

She had opened her face in a radiant smile and her dark eyes had sparkled joyfully. Dark eyes. So different from those of the girl with the rabbit. Two green lakes where his soul had drowned. But now it was of no use. He had no clues about where she'd disappeared. At time he'd thought that she'd died during her training. It was not uncommon at the Sanctuary. Yet this thought was too gloomy and he'd tried to keep it at bay. It's time to stop it. Childish prattle. I'm really behaving like Charlie Brown. I've built this mental image and can't free myself from it. I'm sure that should I see her now she wouldn't have the same impact. I'm not a child anymore.

Miho appeared to be waiting for something, and he believed he knew what it was. Goodbye, Jade Eyes... _He had neared the girl's face with the hope of not looking too boorish, but after all his first kiss turned out to be not as complicated as he'd feared. Only slightly more wet than he'd expected. But pleasant, after all. _Yes, Miho is really very sweet... And I should clear my mind of everything else...

To clear the mind of everything. The boy smirked as he lad Saavedra's Mate back into the stable. _Some things never change, years pass but some things remain unchanged..._

She had sneaked behind his back unnoticed. "Welcome back, my love!" she had cried, only to ignore him and walk briskly to the horse. The young man watcher her kiss affectionately the sweaty muzzle of horse which instantly returned such pleasantries by licking her face. "He made you fatigue, that naughty boy, didn't he? Just don't worry. Now mommy will brush you up and then will give you plenty good stuff to eat..."  
The boy smiled at the familiar scene. It was always the same. Pretending of ignore him was part of her pantomime. "You go on this way, I'll make steaks of that horse..."  
She turned to look at him, a sly expression in those maddening eyes. "Hallo, Seiya. I hadn't noticed you."

Get her out of your head. There was a time when he thought he could. When he was flirting with his childhood friend. When he had worked himself into believing that he loved his Goddess. But he hadn't be able to escape Jade Eyes' spell. The girl's swagger, hands in pockets, her chiselled face... It all had reappeared one day, when he was resigned to the fact that it was all over. It reappeared in the most unlikely way. The most cruel, also.

"What makes you believe that I want to be kissed by you, after you've kissed _him_?"

She approached him with a smile. "What makes you believe that I want to kiss you?" she asked just a moment before locking lips with him.

Who would believe it? We are here, thousand of miles from where we first met. And then... No, it all seems so absurd... Love, hate, pain, revenge. Sacrifice. Did we really survive it all?

"God, Seiya, you need a bath! Your sweat stenches almost intoxicatingly!"

Intoxicatingly? "Less than Saavy, anyway. And you had no trouble with him" the boy protested.

"I don't have to sleep with him..."

"How about giving me a brushing, too?" _Jade Eyes. Now everything's different. Now... now... now she's with me..._

Things are moving too fast. I can't keep them in control. _In two days they were leaving for Greece. His comrades, Goddess Athena and himself. To take the Sanctuary by storm and overthrow the murderer wearing the High Priest's robes. Too quickly. A year before things had been far simpler. The only thing he had had on his mind had been Seika's disappearance. Now... his sister was always the first of his thoughts, yet he'd realized that being a Saint involved so much more. Because Saori Kido was Athena. Athena born again among mankind. And she wasn't the monster he'd held her to be, after his return to Tokyo. Saori Kido. Athena. He and his comrades were going to fight for her. To reinstate her to her rightful station. It didn't matter at what price or how powerful the foes they were going to fight were. Facing the power of a Gold Saint had been a frightening experience. Seiya knew that theirs was going to be an almost suicidal enterprise, and they would have been forced to go without Shiryu who had become blind to vanquish Perseus Argor…_

The Gold Saints… Aiolia, his friend Aiolia, his own Marin's loved one, had not hesitated to attack him. Seiya surveyed the toiling and bristling of the docks below him from his loft window. He was going to do anything to return, even if all their opponents were going to be like Aiolia, Leo Gold Saint. Who would have killed him, if things had not taken an unexpected turn. If she hadn't stepped in, shielding him with her body.

"Leo Saint as ally will be an asset for us." Shun's voice reached his ears as if coming from another world. He and Hyoga were laying battle plans, so as to not be unprepared for the siege. Indeed, Aiolia was now one of them. Since he'd recognized the power Saori emanated. But… there was something else which to him was far more meaningful. Because before Aiolia's arrival she had come to kill him. His perennial enemy. And she had taken her mask off in front of him, explaining her pointless motivations. "A woman serving Athena can't be seen in the face by a man, therefore you must die", this sort of things. And he'd again seen her face, a year after that night at the Sanctuary, when she'd tried to take the Pegasus Cloth he'd just had away from him. And then, as she had begun to speak of a day many years in the past, he'd been able to conceive just two very silly thoughts. The day we met her hair was dyed. That's why I could never trace her_, but especially _A year ago… when her mask fell… it was dark, yet… how the hell could I think that her eyes were grey? _The girl with the rabbit…_

"There's also that woman. Shaina." Hyoga's voice had brought him back to reality. Her name had been enough. The name of Jade Eyes. What should I do now? _"She was unconscious, but still alive, right, Seiya?"_

"Yes, alive." Although she'd been hit in his stead. To defend him from Aiolia. Telling of a love too long withheld and veiled with hatred. Falling in his arms like a rag doll. No, no, no… not now… not now that I've found you…_ It had been the sorrow. And the rage. Blind rage, the like of he'd never felt. That rage had prompted him to strike Aiolia. Not with one of his blows. A jab straight to the face, like in a bar room brawl. Aiolia hadn't defended himself. He'd let him blow his steam off. Certainly he'd realized fully the frame of mind he'd been in. Then he'd healed Shaina's wound…_

"Then we'll have to worry also of her" Hyoga went on. "That girl is a real nuisance. It wouldn't be nice if she were to insist on threatening your life while we're battling some Sanctuary big gun…"

Threaten my life… No, she will not do it again. She's chosen to love me, not to kill me. And now, now that I know who she is I… This changes everything. My God, this changes everything… _He should have told it to Shun and Hyoga. The way things had gone. And how it all had begun, six years before, when he briefly crossed the life of a tender-hearted little girl, who was fondling a frightened rabbit. But that story was his and only his. And Jade Eyes'. "Shaina is not a problem" he'd finally replied. It didn't matter if they understood, or if they had the details or not. "She saved my life. Now she's with us."_

The boy pushed her out of the stable, paying her objections no heed.

"I promised Saavy to give him a brush!"

"Surely he can wait for five minutes. Tell me what you did today."  
The girl put a resigned air, bearing patiently the weight of his arm around her shoulders. "We did also your share of work. You bum."  
"No movies?" the young man asked, fixating her eyes intently. She hadn't changed very much from the beginning, a spectacular and markedly violent one, of their story.

She saved my life. Now…

"Hey" the girl threw him a long withering glance. "it takes a mistrusting guy like you to think that me and your sister throw party after party as soon as you cross the street corner."

The boy winked at her. He was heartened by the fact that some things remained ever the same. Her eyes, her lips, her pretence of gruffness. Everything he loved in her, ever since he was just a kid gone rabbit hunting.

Now…

"Who's' cooking tonight?" he asked, sensing his stomach groan. The sandwiches he'd gobbled had vanished inside the meanders of his metabolism long before.

"It should be your turn. But Seika's already on it. I think she's trying to come up with something new."  
The boy suppressed a scowl. His sister was the less gifted cook among them. But he was determined to put a brave face against adversity. Because that also was part of the simple, wonderful life he shared with the girl he was standing with.

Now she's with us… Now…

The girl freed herself from his grip. "Go take a bath, you filthy, nauseating being."

"You're so sexy when you badmouth me" the boy beamed at her, then he began to walk to the house. The idea of bathing sounded pretty good. Everything there was pretty good. His dear ones, his love, the life he was living. What really mattered, in spite of Gods, Saints and anything else… In a way he owed all this to her only.

She saved my life. Now she's with me…


End file.
